“We’ll deal with it,” said St. George. He gritted his teeth and pulled out the fang. It was red and slick. More blood splattered out onto the floor. He dropped the fang in his pocket and squeezed his palm over the wound. “I think everyone in this building is dead. Maybe the next building over, too. How much does that hurt you, number-wise?”
Freedom glanced at Kennedy. “If they’re all dead,” she said, “it’s almost a quarter of our troops gone.”
“Can you still mount a defense? You must’ve planned for something like this, right?”
Freedom gave a sharp nod. “It’ll be difficult, but not impossible. First Sergeant,” he said to Kennedy, “operation Red Sand is in effect.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Make sure your people understand they’re not fighting regular exes,” said St. George. “They’re fighting Legion. He’ll make plans of his own and react to what your people do. Or what they don’t do.”
Kennedy nodded and began to bark commands into her microphone.
Freedom looked at the hero and gave a quick nod to Franklin. “What else can you tell us about this Legion?”
“We beat him before by splitting his attention. He wasn’t experienced with his powers, so fighting on multiple fronts made him lose control and then we just focused on the man himself. It looks like his control may have gotten better, though.”
“Great,” muttered Franklin. He pushed up St. George’s sleeve.
“Stow it, sergeant.”
“Yes sir.” He pulled some disinfectant from a pouch and wiped the blood away from the wound. It was a ragged hole the size of a dime. “Shouldn’t’ve pulled that tooth out,” he muttered.
“The big problem, though,” said St. George, “is the ex-soldiers. Since he’s controlling them, he’s effectively got a thousand people on the base already. Double agents, guerillas, saboteurs, whatever you want to call them. He’s got a lot of them, but I bet they’re all going for simple goals. Even if he’s gotten better, he probably won’t risk splitting himself onto too many complex fronts.”
“Probably?”
The hero shrugged. “He’s still just a guy, and not a terribly bright one.”
Franklin mashed gauze on the bloody holes and wrapped the arm with white tape.
“Sergeant Monroe,” said Freedom, “take the rest of Eleven and clean out this building. We don’t want any surprises two or three hours from now. If it’s down, make sure it’s staying down.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” He bent down to the other twitching corpse and twisted its head around to face the floor. The body went limp.
“Jefferson, you’re with me. We need to secure the armory and make sure the perimeter holds,” continued the captain. “It’s going to be getting dark in about five hours and this situation needs to be stabilized before then.”
Sunlight poured in through the barracks door and blinded them all for a moment. So, said Zzzap, how are things on this side of the giant military deathtrap?
Freedom and a few of the soldiers glared at him.
“I want you to go with them to the armory,” said St. George. “Stay there and make sure they get everything they need.”
And then?
“We get the weapons, stop the exes, and then we go after Smith.”
Smith?
“He’s got Stealth. He’s trying to get away to a more secure base. She’s going to be his hostage to keep us all in line.”
Smith took her as a hostage? said Zzzap. Wow, talk about making a poor—
He froze and hung in the air for a moment, like a statue of light.
“Barry?”
I just want to be clear on this, said Zzzap. We need to get guns—lots of guns—and then rescue our ultra-calm leader who’s been captured by Agent Smith?
St. George sighed.
Oh, this is so going to rock!
Chapter 29
NOW
In the distance they could see the opening in the fence and the flash of weapons. The clatter of dead teeth echoed in the air, closer than it had been.
“I’ll help at the gate,” said St. George. “You get to the armory and do what you need to do.”
“We’ll join you there in ten minutes,” said Freedom. “Tell Staff Sergeant Pierce you’ve got my approval. If he asks, say you’re five by five. He’ll know what it means.”
Zzzap let out a buzzing laugh. St. George tried not to grin. “Got it.”
Freedom gave him a quick nod and sprinted off with Kennedy and Jefferson. The three of them were damned fast, the hero had to admit, even the one with the broken arm. It took them seconds to cover a hundred yards and vanish around a corner.
Watch your back, said Zzzap. Buffy references aside, I still don’t trust any of these guys.
“It’s not like your movies.”
Yeah, it’s going a lot worse so far. He flitted away after the soldiers.